All Things Human

The Making Of A Sand Mandala

Kyilkhor, also known as sand mandala, symbolizes the transitory nature of things. As part of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, all things material are seen as temporal.

The sand mandala stands as an example of this belief. Buddhists believe that once its creation has finished, its destruction begins. The sand mandala used to be created from granules of crushed colored stones. Today, the raw material changed into white stones transformed into sand and dyed with opaque inks.

For building a sand mandala, the monks will first draw the geometrical measurements associated with it, laying down the sand afterwards.

The destruction of a mandala is also honored with a ceremony. “Even the deity syllables are removed in a specific order, along with the rest of the geometry until at last the mandala has been dismantled. The sand is collected in a jar which is then wrapped in silk and transported to a river (or any place with moving water), where it is released back into nature. For this reason, the materials in a sand mandala are always biodegradable, and, in keeping with the symbolism are never used twice.”

Phuntsog Wangyal and three Lamas presenting the making of a sand mandala for the Queen’s Jubilee to Prince Charles.

Carved Letters

Printing blocks have been used by Tibetans since ancient times for transforming a piece of cloth into a prayer flag or for storing the knowledge in books. The legacy is not set in stone, but carved in wood.